January 23, 2012

RESEARCH / SOCIAL MEDIA: Youth sickened by social media (INDIA)

New Delhi, Jan 22: Youngsters in urban India have started experiencing social-media fatigue as excess use of these sites has started telling on their mental and physical health and even their professional, academic and personal lives.

The youngsters said they tend to log onto social networks like – Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Orkut, Linkedin, Myspace, Friendster, Hi5, BigAdda and others less frequently than earlier when they had initially signed up, according to a recently concluded survey carried out by apex industry body ASSOCHAM.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) conducted a survey under the aegis of ASSOCHAM Social Development Foundation (ASDF) to examine current usage trends vis-à-vis social networks among youngsters and time spent on these websites.

Majority of all the respondents said that compulsive social networking has led to insomnia, depression, poor inter-personal relationships, lack of concentration, high level of anxiety, ignorance and rudeness in their general behavior as they tend to replace real-life social interactions with online social media.